06/10/12 ~ Mera Pak Watan

Dunya TV

Rain halts French Open final
Pakistani wins 4th position in World Calligraphy contest
Hollande's Socialists take lead in parliamentary vote
Helicopter crash: Kenya govt minister among 6 dead
Govt to sever connections of CNG stations not serving gas
China to launch first manned spacecraft in July
Bamboos cheaper, better than steel poles
Canadian tech town feels BlackBerry's decline
Iran's cyber police force poised to launch new crackdown on Internet
British royal family's gruff patriarch turns 91
Let judiciary decide Arslan Iftekhar case: Shahbaz
Malik Riaz leaves England for Pakistan, will appear before SC
CNG association calls off strike in KPK, Balochistan conditionally
Karachi: Five killed in Musharraf Colony firing
Three more bodies recovered from Gayari sector

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Rain halted the French Open final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic on Sunday for a second time at 6:50 pm local time (1650 GMT) with the Spaniard leading 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 1-2. There was an earlier break in play of 32 minutes from 5:10 pm local time (1510 GMT). Organisers said they hoped to restart the final at around 2000 local time (1800GMT). The last time the French Open final was not completed on a Sunday was 1973 when Ilie Nastase defeated Niki Pilic.

Pakistani wins 4th position in World Calligraphy contest

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A Pakistani calligrapher, Muhammad Ashraf Hira of Hafizabad won 4th position in World Calligraphy contest held in Makka Mukarma. He also received a shield and 15,000 dirham. Ashraf Hira represented Pakistan in several calligraphy contests and so far won 18 contests.

Hollande's Socialists take lead in parliamentary vote

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French President Francois Hollande s Socialists and allies were headed for an absolute majority to push through tax-and-spend reforms after a first round of parliamentary elections Sunday, exit polls said. The election also saw a surge in support for Marine Le Pen s National Front, which wants to ditch the euro and battles against the "Islamisation" of France. It won almost 14 percent of votes, according to the exit polls. The Socialist Party and its Green allies were set to win a total of around 40 percent of votes, according to the CSA polling institute, versus 35 percent for former president Nicolas Sarkozy s UMP party. The Communist-backed Left Front headed by firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon was on course to win seven percent of votes, CSA said, with turnout nationwide at around 60 percent. TNS Sofres, Ipsos and OpinonWay pollsters all agreed that the political left, including the Left Front, would win at least 289 seats in the 577-seat Assembly and possibly as many as 368 seats.

Helicopter crash: Kenya govt minister among 6 dead

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Kenya s internal security minister was killed with five other people when the police helicopter they were traveling in crashed in a forest near Kenya s capital, officials said Sunday. An anti-corruption crusader said the incident calls into question the government s procurement of airplanes and helicopters for its security forces. Internal Security Minister George Saitoti and his deputy, Orwa Ojode, were among the six killed in the crash, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka said. Two pilots and two bodyguards also died in the crash, officials said. Kenya s government declared three days of mourning for the deaths of the ministers. The death of Saitoti is a "great tragedy that has befallen our country at this time as we are making elaborate preparations to hold peaceful elections," Prime Minister Raila Odinga said at the scene of the crash, a forest in the city s outskirts. It was not immediately clear what caused the accident. Kenyan police cordoned off the scene of the crash and said they were investigating. Rescue officials collected the charred and scattered remains of those killed.

Govt to sever connections of CNG stations not serving gas

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Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain Sunday said doors were open to CNG Association for dialogue but first they should call off the strike. He said the connections of filling stations that are not selling CNG would be severed.Meanwhile, association representatives have offered to call off the strike if assurances were given to them.

China to launch first manned spacecraft in July

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The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft and its carrier rocket have already been moved to the launch platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China, the Xinhua news agency said, quoting the country s manned space programme. The launch -- China s first manned space mission since September 2008 -- would occur "sometime in mid June", it said. Officials said the mission would involve three astronauts manually docking with the Tiangong-1 module currently orbiting Earth. In March state media said China may send its first woman into space this year after including female astronauts in the team training for its first manned space docking. Niu Hongguang, deputy commander-in-chief of the manned space programme, has said that the Shenzhou-9 crew may include female astronauts, Xinhua reported. China sent its first person into space in 2003 and has since conducted several manned missions, but has never included a woman. After the space rendezvous, two of the astronauts will move temporarily into the Tiangong-1 (Heavenly Palace), where they will perform scientific experiments. One of crew will remain on board the spacecraft as a precaution in case of an emergency, according to the official quoted by Xinhua. In November, an unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft returned to Earth after completing two space dockings with Tiangong-1 in the nation s first ever hard-to-master "space kiss", bringing together two vessels in high speed orbit. Mastering space docking technology is a delicate manoeuvre that the Russians and Americans successfully completed in the 1960s. Tiangong-1, China s first space station module, was launched in September. China sees its space programme as a symbol of its global stature, growing technical expertise, and the Communist Party s success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation. The current programme aims to provide China with a space station in which a crew can live independently for several months, as at the old Russian Mir facility or the International Space Station. In 2003, China became the third country to send humans into space after Russia and America, and it is now also looking into sending astronauts to the moon, although nothing has been set in stone. A white paper released late December outlining China s ambitious space programme said the country "will conduct studies on the preliminary plan for a human lunar landing". No one has been back to the moon since the last US Apollo landing in December 1972.

Bamboos cheaper, better than steel poles

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So much so that in recognition of the material s versatility, the Indonesian island of Bali has made it an emblem of sustainable construction, replacing buildings of concrete and steel with far greener alternatives. An entire school, luxury villas and even a chocolate factory are the latest structures to rise from bamboo skeletons as the plant s green credentials and strength are hailed. The factory, which opened last year and produces organic drinking chocolate and cocoa butter, is the latest in a string of buildings on the island, including homes and businesses, to be built of bamboo. Erected in the village of Sibang Kaja between the resort island s smoggy capital Denpasar and the forests of Ubud, the factory is the initiative of specialty food firm Big Tree Farms, which claims the 2,550-square-metre (27,500-square-foot) facility is the biggest commercial bamboo building in the world. "Bamboo is unmatched as a sustainable building material. What it can do is remarkable," Big Tree Farms co-founder Ben Ripple, 37, told AFP. "It grows far more quickly than timber and doesn t destroy the land it s grown on," said Ripple, an American from Connecticut. "Our factory can be packed up and moved in days, so if we decided to shut it down one day, we re not going to damage the rice paddies we sit on." The 100 hectares (247 acres) of paddies sit inside a so-called "bamboo triangle," with the factory, school and villas standing at each of the three points. Such ambitious bamboo projects in Bali are mostly driven by eco-conscious foreigners. With studies showing construction to be one of the world s least sustainable industries -- eating up around half of the globe s non-renewable resources -- sustainable construction is slowly taking root around the world. It is among the key topics for discussion at the Rio20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, which opens June 20 in Rio de Janeiro. In Sibang, the tawny brown bamboo buildings with their grass thatched roofs appear to be rising from the earth. The three-storey chocolate factory is pieced together using a complex system of scissor trusses and bolts, thanks to clever architecture. It resembles the traditional longhouses found on Borneo island and was made with more than 18,000 metres (59,000 feet) of bamboo from Bali and Java. At Sibang s nearby Green School, the 240 students -- most of them children of expatriates -- learn in semi-outdoor classrooms decked with bamboo furniture. The school, which opened in 2008 and was the magnet for the other two projects, has 25 bamboo buildings, the main one being a stilt-structure constructed with 2,500 bamboo poles, or culms. "In Hong Kong and China, they make new skyscrapers of concrete and glass using bamboo scaffolding. But here, the workmen stood on steel scaffolding to build this bamboo building. That s always seemed funny to me," said Green School admissions head Ben Macrory, from New York. "In most parts of Asia, bamboo is seen as the poor man s timber." Not, however, in Sibang, where the bamboo villas that nestle between the palm trees are worth $350,000 to $700,000 each. Like decadent treehouses for adults, they have semi-outdoor areas and include innovative bamboo flooring that resembles smooth timber and jellybean-shaped coffee tables made from thin bamboo slats. Bamboo -- technically a grass -- has been used in building for centuries because of its impressive strength-to-weight ratio. Jules Janssen, an authority on bamboo in the Netherlands, says that the weight of a 5,000-kilogram (11,000-pound) elephant can be supported by a short bamboo stub with a surface area of just 10 square centimetres (1.5 square inches). One reason bamboo is so environmentally-friendly is the speed at which it grows, according to Terry Sunderland, a scientist at the Centre for International Forestry Research in Indonesia. "In China, eucalyptus can grow at three to four metres (10-13 feet) a year, which is very impressive for timber. But building-quality bamboo will grow between six and 10 metres (20-33 feet) in that time," he said. And unlike trees that rarely grow back once felled, bamboo will continue to produce new shoots even after cutting.But even bamboo has its drawbacks.Without intensive treatment, it is prone to rotting after exposure to water. It also catches fire relatively easily, which is why many countries limit bamboo structures to just a few storeys. Ripple acknowledged that building with bamboo was not foolproof, but expressed optimism that the technology to protect it from the elements will improve. "A friend we work with here always says bamboo needs a hat, rain jacket and boots," he said. "We re lacking on the rain jacket a bit, but we re looking at non-toxic materials to give it some protection."

Canadian tech town feels BlackBerry's decline

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President Barack Obama couldn t bear to part with his BlackBerry. Oprah Winfrey declared it one of her "favorite things." It could be so addictive that it was nicknamed "the CrackBerry." Then came a new generation of competing smartphones, and suddenly the BlackBerry, that game-changing breakthrough in personal connectedness, looks ancient. There is even talk that the fate of Research In Motion, the company that fathered the BlackBerry in 1999, is no longer certain as its flagship property rapidly loses market share to flashier phones like Apple s iPhone and Google s Android-driven models. With more than $2 billion in cash, bankruptcy for RIM seems highly unlikely in the near term, but these are troubling times for Waterloo, Ontario, the town of 100,000 that was transformed by the BlackBerry into Canada s Silicon Valley. RIM is Canada s most valuable technology company, an international icon so prestigious that founder Mike Lazaridis and its other driving force, Jim Balsillie, are on an official government list of national heroes, alongside the likes of Alexander Graham Bell. RIM s U.S. share of the smartphone market belly-flopped from 44 percent in 2009 to 10 percent in 2011 according to market researcher NPD Group. The company still has 78 million active subscribers across the globe, but last month RIM issued a warning that it will lose money for the second consecutive quarter, will lay off workers this year, and has hired a team of bankers to help it weigh its options. Last July it slashed 2,000 jobs. Of RIM s 16,500 remaining employees, 7,500 live in Waterloo, a university town 90 minutes  drive from Toronto, where everyone seems to know someone who works for RIM. John Lind says RIM s impact on his field, commercial real estate, is enormous. "We talk about RIM in hushed tones in this region because no one wants to be negative about it, no one wants to be seen as not on their side," he said. "But people are saying,  What would this region look like without RIM? " The decline of the BlackBerry has come shockingly fast. Just five years ago, when the first iPhone came out, few thought it could threaten the BlackBerry. Now Chief Executive Thorsten Heins says his employees "are getting asked all the time,  What s going on with you guys? What happened? I mean RIM is the star of Canada and what happened to you guys? And how bad is it going to go? " RIM s software is still focused on email, and is less user-friendly and agile than iPhone or Android. Its attempt at touch screens was a flop, and it lacks the apps that power other smartphones. Its tablet, the PlayBook, registered just 500,000 sales to Apple s 11.8 million in the last quarter despite a price cut from $500 to $200, well below cost. RIM s hopes now hang on BlackBerry 10, a new operating system set to debut later this year. It s thoroughly redesigned for the new multimedia, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers are now demanding. Heins, formerly RIM s chief operating officer, says he can turn things around with BlackBerry. He took over in January after the company lost tens of billions in market value and founder Lazaridis stepped down along with co-CEO Balsillie. RIM was once Canada s most valuable company with a market value of $83 billion in June 2008, but the stock has plummeted since, from over $140 share to around $10. Its decline is evoking memories of Nortel, another Canadian tech giant, which ended up declaring bankruptcy in 2009. "It has to be very sad," BGC Financial Partners analyst Colin Gillis said from New York. "I feel for those people up there because what else are you going to do work at the Apple store that just opened in the mall?" But Waterloo is home to more than 800 tech companies and is certainly no company town, many here insist. Smaller firms like e-learning company Desire2Learn have doubled their head count in the last year, and Google has opened an office here. Tad Homer-Dixon, chairman of the Center for International Governance and Innovation, a Waterloo-based think tank, likens Waterloo to Rochester, New York, where the blow of Kodak s bankruptcy filing is cushioned by the network of startups the company helped to spawn. "They ve taken an enormous hit because of the collapse of Kodak, and Waterloo will take an enormous hit assuming that RIM ultimately vanishes from the scene, but I think the overall economy and region has been so fundamentally changed by RIM that it will actually do very well," Homer-Dixon said. Homer-Dixon says RIM s impact on the city has been staggering. His think tank was created by RIM s Balsillie, and he also is a professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs at the University of Waterloo. Balsillie and Lazaridis have together donated more than $400 million to the community. Lazaridis has donated $150 million to the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, which he founded in 2000 and which attracts the involvement of such giants of physics as Stephen Hawking. "Ten years from now BlackBerrys will be in the Smithsonian but these institutions will hopefully still be thriving," Homer-Dixon said. Lazaridis, 51, remains on RIM s board. Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa, a fellow board member, calls the Turkish-born Greek immigrant a genius who pioneered the smartphone. "It really would be unfortunate if anything happened to RIM, and I d like to do whatever I can to help," Watsa said. In an interview with The Associated Press at RIM headquarters in Waterloo, Heins said he won t try to compete head-to-head with Apple but will try to build on RIM s strengths, such as its dominance of the corporate smartphone market. RIM says more than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies use BlackBerry and that more than a million North American government workers rely on BlackBerry s software security. But Heins acknowledges RIM failed to quickly adapt to the emerging "bring your own device" trend, in which employees bring their personal iPhones or Android devices to work instead of relying on BlackBerrys issued by their employers. That s where BlackBerry 10 comes in delayed but not too late to vie with the new Apple iPhone expected this fall, or so Heins hopes. "At the end of the day if the product is good you can always come back," Heins said. "There s many examples of how that has happened. I m not that scared about this, frankly." Other tech companies have indeed recovered from the ropes. The late Steve Jobs said Apple was less than three months away from bankruptcy when he rejoined it in 1997, and it s now the world s most valuable company. Homer-Dixon said it s amazing that RIM in Waterloo got this far, considering it has had to compete with Silicon Valley, "the most powerful engine of innovation that humankind has ever created." Neither Lazaridis nor Balsillie has given interviews about RIM since stepping down, but Homer-Dixon suggests Balsillie is well prepared for a change of fortune. He recalls being on a boat in the Arctic in mid-2009 with Balsillie, who talked about the importance of luck in building a tech giant. A crew member asked where RIM would be in five years. "He said,  Well the smartphone industry is a rapidly expanding market and I think we ll retain a segment of it.  Then his last words were  I don t think RIM will go bankrupt, but who knows. "

Iran's cyber police force poised to launch new crackdown on Internet

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It lets many Iranians circumvent the regime s Internet censorship, media reported on Sunday. The operation will target VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks, which use a secure protocol to encrypt users  data, foiling online blocks put in place by Iran s authorities, according to the head of the specialised police unit, Kamal Hadianfar. "It has been agreed that a commission (within the cyber police) be formed to block illegal VPNs," he was quoted as saying in a report originally published by the Mehr news agency. "About 20 to 30 percent of (Iranian internet) users use VPN," or more than seven million people out of the country s 36 million web users, he added. Legal VPNs would only be used by "the likes of airlines, ministries, (state) organisations and banks," he said -- and even they would be monitored by the commission. Iran has long tried to stop its population accessing millions of foreign websites authorities see as undermining the Islamic regime, including Facebook, Twitter, the online pages of the BBC and CNN, many torrent sites, blogs, and pornographic hubs. "Some websites are obscene and others are officially hostile towards the Islamic republic s system. (Thus), in the interest of the people and in order to prevent the collapse of families... there is blocking of the Internet," Hadianfar said. The Islamic republic s suppressing of the Internet has intensified since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was returned to office in a disputed 2009 election that sparked a wave of anti-government protests, mostly organised online. Many Iranian Internet users are used to getting around the censorship through the use of either VPNs or IP proxy software. But they are being increasingly hemmed in by more sophisticated measures being deployed by officials, who are planning a closed "Islamic Internet" that some believe could be designed to supplant the world wide web within Iran. Iran s telecommunications ministry last month reportedly ordered the country s banks, insurance firms and telephone operators to stop using foreign e-mail accounts such as Gmail to communicate with clients, and instead adopt e-mail domains ending with .ir, which belongs to Iran. Authorities have also several times recently slowed connections through VPNs to an excruciatingly slow speed to dissuade their use, and have occasionally halted all access to Gmail, Yahoo mail and other foreign communication services. Such tactics have drawn criticism, even from within the regime, with politicians lamenting the obstacle they present for import/export merchants, students and researchers. Iran s former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a sidelined pragmatic figure who now heads an advisory council to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted two weeks ago by the ISNA news agency as saying Facebook was a "blessing". "We see that a Facebook page costing nothing can outstrip several television and radio outlets, and can influence millions of people," he was quoted as saying. Trying to block the Internet -- and banned although widely-watched foreign satellite television channels -- was futile because users will always find ways around, he said. "People cannot be stopped in their pursuit of information," he was quoted as saying. Rafsanjani said some in Iran s regime may dislike that, "but if we think about the happiness of human beings, we see that if social media did not exist, movements against tyranny and oppression would be endangered." The United States, Iran s arch foe and the genitor of the Internet, is seeking to tear open what President Barack Obama in March termed the Islamic republic s "electronic curtain". He announced measures to encourage US software makers to market communication programmes in Iran. And in April, he ordered new sanctions targeting companies that help Iran and its ally Syria oppress their people with surveillance software and monitoring technology. The New York Times newspaper reported early this month that Obama had also accelerated cyberattacks on Iran s nuclear programme, including the Stuxnet virus that destroyed hundreds of uranium enrichment centrifuges in Iran s Natanz facility. Iran has said a new computer virus dubbed Flame that hit servers run by its oil sector appeared to be linked to Stuxnet, and it has cast suspicion on the United States as the perpetrator.

British royal family's gruff patriarch turns 91

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A bladder infection forced him to miss the end of her diamond jubilee celebrations earlier this month, but he has been steadfast in support of his wife at the expense of his own career and ambitions. A peppery naval officer, the Duke of Edinburgh s no-nonsense approach combined with his infamous and often politically incorrect off-the-cuff remarks has not made it easy for people to warm to his style. But his unwavering, forthright style and devotion to duty has endeared him to the nation, as witnessed by the spontaneous chanting of his name by crowds sending him a get well shout at the jubilee concert. The queen seemed visibly touched by the impromptu gesture. In a golden wedding anniversary speech in 1997, Queen Elizabeth paid a rare public tribute to her husband. "He is someone who doesn t take easily to compliments," she said. "But he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years, and I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know." Never one to talk about his own feelings, the prince admitted in a 2011 BBC interview that he had carved out his own role by "trial and error". Asked if he had been successful, he replied, typically: "Who cares what I think about it?" Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark was born on a kitchen table in Corfu on June 10, 1921, the only son of prince Andrew of Greece -- the younger brother of Greece s king Constantine -- and princess Alice of Battenberg. His upbringing was unsettled, with his relatives often remote. Aged just 18 months, he and his family were evacuated in a British Royal Navy ship from politically unstable Greece, with the toddler reputedly carried in a cot made from an orange box. The family settled in Paris, sending the young Philip to preparatory school in England when he was just seven, to secondary school in southern Germany and then as a boarder at the austere Gordonstoun in Scotland. He pursued his love of sailing and became an outstanding Royal Navy cadet before serving on battleships in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. As World War II progressed, Philip was mentioned in despatches and promoted through the ranks on merit. By 1945, he was a first lieutenant, and was present for the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay with the British Pacific Fleet. He was formally introduced to princess Elizabeth in July 1939 and they maintained regular contact throughout the war. But it was not until July 1947 that their engagement was announced and they married that year on November 20 at London s Westminster Abbey. He had to give up his titles as prince of Greece and Denmark and joined the Church of England. He took the surname Mountbatten, his maternal grandparents  Anglicised name. He resumed his naval career after the wedding. The couple headed to Malta, where he had been posted. By now in command of a ship, Philip s career was cut short by the death of king George VI in 1952, which brought his wife to the throne. He once admitted the curtailment of his career was "disappointing", but said that "being married to the queen, it seemed to me that my first duty was to serve her in the best way I could". He was a keen horseman, competing for Britain in the sport of carriage-driving after injuries to a hand tendon forced him to retire from playing polo in 1971. He maintains a keen interest in science, technology, wildlife and the environment.

Let judiciary decide Arslan Iftekhar case: Shahbaz

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Addressing the occasion of third anniversary of deceased Mufti Sarfaraz Naeemi, he stressed all to stand by the Supreme Court, as CJP, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was the last hope of justice and law in country. “God forbid if the Judiciary is damaged this time, nothing would stop the gang of thieves to go on free-for-all rampage”, he cautioned. He said that PML-N was not responsible for fostering the evils of militancy and terrorism, while those ridiculing us would soon be ridiculed themselves”, he scoffed. Terming drone attacks as terrorism, he expressed deep regrets at not being able to apprehend the murderers of (late) Mufti Sarfaraz Naeemi.

Malik Riaz leaves England for Pakistan, will appear before SC

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According to sources Riaz will appear before the Supreme Court and submit his statement in connection with the Arslan Iftekhar case as soon as he reaches Pakistan. Malik Riaz has decided to return to country after the Supreme Court directed him to appear before the apex court and record his statement regarding the allegations on Arslan Iftekhar. A two member bench is hearing the case after CJP took sou moto at the media reports about corruption charges on his son Iftekhar. The bench will hear the case on daily basis from Monday.

CNG association calls off strike in KPK, Balochistan conditionally

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Khyber Pukhtunkawa CNG Association has called off strike for three days and asked the Petroleum Ministry to take concrete steps in 72 hour ultimatum and if, according to Pervaiz Khattak, President Khyber Pukhtunkawa CNG Association, Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain does not reciprocate appropriately, strike will again start after three days.Pervaiz Khattak, while speaking to media in Peshawar said that they were aware of the difficulties faced by the people and were calling off the strike to provide relief. Simultaneously, Balochistan CNG Association has also called off the strike for three days. Strike entered into fifth day in Punjab while differences emerged in the association members over opening of CNG in Faisalabad and Sarghoda divisions Meanwhile, showing solidarity with the CND dealers the Oil and Petroleum Dealers Association has also announced to go on strike.Long lines of vehicles were seen at the CNG stations in Islamabad and other cities of the country.

Karachi: Five killed in Musharraf Colony firing

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It is said that the killed persons belonged to Layari gang war. They were sitting in Musharraf Colony when unknown gunmen came there and opened fire at them. As a result Shehzad alias Chrlee, Kamal, Waseem Junaid and Abdul Salam were seriously hurt. They were taken to Civil Hospital where they succumbed to injuries and died. Tension prevailed in Musharraf Colony after the incident. Heavy contingent of police reached the site of incident.

Three more bodies recovered from Gayari sector

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According ISPR three bodies were recovered Sunday and till now 13 bodies have been recovered out which seven bodies have been identified. Efforts are on to identify the rest of six bodies.  On April 7 124 soldiers and eleven civilians were killed as avalanche fell on them.

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LAHORE:

The Punjab government presented its biggest ever Annual Development Programme (ADP) of Rs250 billion for the upcoming 2012-13 financial year, exceeding the development budget for the year ending June 30 by Rs30 billion.

Though significantly higher than last year's budget, the funds will be spent on fewer projects 1,178 than the 1,904 projects allocated funds for 2011-12. The budget was presented by Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, who was assigned the portfolio of finance minister after Rana Asif Mehmood resigned over dual nationality issues.

The ADP includes Rs40 billion for 15 special initiatives: Rs1.5 billion for a low income housing scheme; Rs3 billion for a population welfare programme; Rs2 billion for the Danish Schools System; Rs2 billion for the Punjab Education Endowment Fund; Rs6.5 billion for the Punjab Education Foundation; Rs1.5 billion for the Technical Education and Vocation Training Authority; Rs5.5 billion for the Directorate of Labour Inspections; Rs1 billion for establishing the Punjab Technical University in Lahore; Rs3 billion for a self-employment scheme; Rs1 billion for women's development; Rs500 million for an innovation development fund; Rs1.5 billion for an internship programme; Rs600 million for Parks and Horticulture Authorities; Rs5 billion for vertical health programmes; and Rs5.4 billion for various government sector companies established under the Companies Act.

The development budget includes Rs86.461 billion for social sector projects, a significant increase over the previous year's allocation of Rs71.635 billion and the largest allocation for any sector in this year's ADP.

A total of Rs62.9 billion has been earmarked for infrastructure development projects, up from Rs59 billion for the previous financial year; Rs8.615 billion for the production sector; Rs1 billion for the forestry, wildlife and fisheries sector; and Rs11.1 billion for the services sector, up from Rs5.89 billion the previous year.

The government allocated Rs5.424 billion for other sectors, including Rs350 million for the environment; Rs200 million for information, culture and youth affairs; Rs350 million for archaeology; Rs185 million for religious affairs; Rs220 million for human rights and minority affairs; and Rs4.119 billion for planning and development.

The budget includes Rs35.5 billion for special programmes and packages across various sectors to be announced by the chief minister in the upcoming financial year.

Of the Rs220 billion ADP for 2011-12, the government had utilised Rs120 billion by the end of May, and would likely be able to use only Rs150 billion by the end of June, said an official.

Published in The paksarzameen.tk, June 10^th, 2012.

Orignal From: Punjab budget: Development allocation 13.5% above last year's level

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PCB hires psychologist to help Amir

The PCB has hired a psychologist Maqbool Babri to help banned fast bowler Mohammad Amir with his rehabilitation

Orignal From: PCB hires psychologist to help Amir

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Pakistan were unable to withstand a Thisara Perera all-round show and, despite a career-best 96 by opener Azhar Ali, lost by 76 runs at Pallekele in the Bank Alfalah presents Mobilink Jazz Cup second One-Day International (ODI).

The hosts, spurred by Tillakaratne Dilshan's unbeaten 119, piled up 280 for four off their quota. Dilshan was supported by captain Mahela Jayawardena who, coming in at number five, scored 53 off 48 balls. Perera then provided some fireworks late in the innings, hitting two sixes and as many fours in his 14-ball 24.

The all-rounder then returned with career-best figures of six for 44, the best ODI figures by any bowler against Pakistan, as starts were thrown away. Sri Lanka, with brilliant catching, remained in control under lights.

Perera, deservingly, was named man of the match for his performance.

“It is a 50-50 pitch," said the all-rounder. "You can hit and you can get wickets as well. I really enjoyed myself in this game as I could play my natural game. Now it’s 1-1 in the series and, despite the manner of the win tonight, we have to carry this performance forward with three matches to go.”

Pakistan captain Misbahul Haq, meanwhile, remained a disappointed man, seeking an improved in all three departments to come back strongly in the series.

“Sri Lanka played really well,” he said. “Their opening partnership was very good. Dilshan, Mahela and then the late flourish at the end. The pitch was very good too. We started well but when Umar Akmal and myself were dismissed, the game turned.

"We have to work really hard in all three departments as Sri Lanka were better than us in all three departments.”

Published in The Pak Sar Zameen, June 10^th, 2012.

Orignal From: 2nd ODI: All-round Perera flattens Pakistan

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GDANSK:

Italy are ready to consign their turbulent Euro 2012 preparation to the history books when they take on holders Spain in their Group C opener today.

A match-fixing scandal and a 3-0 hammering by Russia in a friendly has seen the Azzurri arrive at these championships in disarray. But midfielder Daniele De Rossi believes the fans will soon get behind Italy and help them put their troubles to bed.

“The fans could feel distant given what’s happened over the last few months but all will be forgotten, because those playing have nothing to do with what has happened,” said the midfielder.

Italy will progress, says Pique

Meanwhile, Spain defender Gerard Pique insisted that Italians perform best when in trouble. In 1982 and 2006, they won the World Cups directly following match-fixing scandals.

“It seems Italy have been destabilised and have their heads elsewhere but those are the circumstances in which they are at their strongest,” said Pique. “I am convinced that Italy will qualify for the quarters.”

Spain are not without their own concerns as hot-shots David Villa and Carles Puyol miss the tournament with injuries. But Italy midfielder Thiago Motta says those who will come in to replace them are just as good.”They won’t be weaker, they’re missing players like Villa and Puyol but others can come in and play at the same level,” said the Paris St Germain player.

Spain not under-achievers anymore

Four years ago Spain were still the 'nearly' men, the great under-achievers who despite generation after generation of great players, never managed to win anything.

All that changed when they finally landed the Euro title in Vienna four years ago and then added the World Cup trophy two years later. Four years on and world champions Spain are undoubtedly the best team on the planet and the clear favourites to prevail again.

Croatia tackle Ireland in other group match

In the other Group C match, Republic of Ireland will take on Luka Modric's Croatia in the late kick-off tonight.

Croatia's star midfielder Luka Modric reckons that the result against the Republic of Ireland will set the tone for his side’s campaign as they try to make an impression. “It’s our most important match in the group,” said Modric. “If we win it, then I believe we will reach the knockout phase.

Ireland boss Giovanni Trappatoni also believed that the first match is of upmost importance.”The first 90 minutes will have an impact on the tournament and it’s very important to win the first match," said the old-guard.

The match pits Trappatoni against Slaven Bilic, who would like nothing better than to lift the trophy before he moves into club management with Lokomotiv Moscow.

“I feel like a 20-year-old, only with more experience,” said Trapattoni. “I’m still hungry for success, I watch every football match and always think of ways in which I could improve.”

Daniel De Rossi

“It is a little annoying because now next to the page about the national team you read about a sporting trial and we can’t wait for it to be over."

Gerard Pique

“It seems Italy have been destabilised and have their heads elsewhere but those are the circumstances in which they are at their strongest."

Published in The Pak Sar Zameen, June 10^th, 2012.

Orignal From: Euro 2012: Italy ready to cast away 'non-footballing' woes

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